Charles Leclerc is mentally preparing for Ferrari’s weakness to be “most evident” in Belgium after “paying the price” at the Hungarian Formula 1 Automobile Championship.
Ferrari has brought a floor upgrade to the Hungaroring in an attempt to fix the bouncy problem that was brought back into the SF-24 after the Spanish GP upgrade, with Leclerc slotted in sixth, slower Nearly two-tenths of a second behind Carlos Sainz, who was also four-tenths of a second behind pole winner Lando Norris in fourth.
During the race, the car changed positions as Leclerc finished fourth, passing Max Verstappen after he collided with Lewis Hamilton on a day when he felt the car had good pace, but lamented the drop. the machine’s rank in the qualifying round.
“That’s great, but that’s not enough to satisfy me,” Leclerc shared with the media. “Looking at the big picture, we’re still a lot short of qualifying pace compared to our main rivals, so on tracks like this we’ll have to pay the price. “So I think we have a strong car, but don’t think we could have done much more considering our starting position.
“Qualifying pace, especially with Carlos who had a very good lap, I think it’s the distance, and on a track like this we were four-tenths of a second behind and I didn’t think the car could do much more. “The Spa will be a real test for us as this is probably the stage where I think our problems will be most visible. “We’ll see if we can confirm that there’s more work to do before we fix the issues, and if this weekend’s upgrades take us a step further.”
Leclerc’s Hungarian GP
Regarding his actual race, Leclerc was surprised to see Ferrari able to keep close to Hamilton’s Mercedes in the opening stages in bad weather conditions, but was not satisfied with the strategy put in place before the final race. together. “The pace is quite strong, but at a track like Budapest it is difficult to overtake, but we are in a good position,” he added.
“The first and second rounds went well, but then we had to make a choice for the final round to play with Lewis and replace Max, or stay with Max. “We decided to enter, which in my opinion was a bad choice, and that made our final race very difficult because I was riding in used mid-size cars when Max turned back, but the speed is still there. “We expected the race to be very close, but I felt I had a slight advantage because on a track where the dirty air was detrimental to the car behind, I felt I could keep up quite well.